Wonderingabout the order in which you should teach the vowels? In this article, we'll cover which vowel sounds to teach - and the order in which you should teach them.
We'll go in-depth on each type of vowel sound, but here is the overall order for teaching the vowels at the K-2 levels:
- Short vowels
- R-controlled vowels OR and AR (can introduce ER, IR, UR, but do not expect mastery yet)
- Long vowels spelled with silent e
- Long vowel teams
- R-controlled vowels ER, IR, UR (review OR and AR; can also include more complex spellings like "OAR")
- Diphthongs
- Vowel digraph OO
There are other complex vowel sounds (like "ough")that are typically taught following this sequence. However, the skills listed above are most appropriate for Kindergarten, first grade, and second grade learners.
Here are the short vowels:
- short a, as in "hat"
- short e, as in "bed"
- short i, as in "pit"
- short o, as in "log"
- short u, as in "pup"
Short vowels typically cannot appear at the end of a syllable or word in English - they must be "closed in" by a consonant.
You'll begin by teaching students short vowels in the context of CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words.
R-controlled vowels are vowel sounds where the r (that follows the vowel) changes the sound of the vowel.
For example, compare the sound of short o in "cot" vs. "corn." Notice how in "corn," the sound of the o changes.
The easiest r-controlled vowels to master are "ar" and "or."
When you teach these patterns, you can also introduce "er," "ir," and "ur" - to help students read words. However, students do not typically master spelling words with "er," "ir," and "ur" until later on. This is because these three patterns typically represent the same sound.
Compare, for example, the words:
- fern
- fir
- fur
The "er," "ir," and "ur" r-controlled vowels are representing the same sound. (This is why these three patterns are tricky!)
Once students have mastered short vowels, they can begin learning about long vowels.
You'll want to begin by teaching students the sounds of each long vowel - and comparing and contrasting them to the short vowel sounds.
Then, you can introduce how to spell long vowels with silent e. For example:
- the long a in "cake"
- the long i in "bike"
- the long o in "note"
- the long u in "mute" or "tube" (notice how the long u has two different sounds in these two words)
You may have noticed that long e was omitted. This is because long e is rarely spelled with silent e.Typically, when long e is spelled with silent e, it's in a multisyllabic word like "compete" or "concrete."
At this point in the sequence,learning gets a bit messier and more challenging!
There are many different vowel teams, where at least two vowels (and sometimes consonants) are working together to represent a long vowel sound.
Here's a list of vowel teams:
- ay as in "day"
- ai as in "rain"
- eigh as in "neighbor" (not typically taught in K-2)
- ee as in "greet"
- ea as in "team" (long e) or "bread" (short e)
- ie as in "pie"
- igh as in "sigh"
- oa as in "boat"
- oe as in "toe"
- ue as in "clue"
- ew as in "few"
In 1st and 2nd grade, the vowel sounds of y at the end of words (like "shy" or "puppy") can also be taught along with vowel teams.
It typically takes students quite a while to fully master vowel teams! Most students will be able to read words with vowel teams long before they can correctly spell all words with vowel teams.
As we discussed previously, the "er," ir," and "ur" r-controlled vowels take longer for students to master.
They can be taught and reviewed at this point in the sequence - but recognize that students will need lots of practice. Students will also need to learn specific words, so they know, for example, that the word "burn" is spelled with "ur" even though the /ur/ soundcan alsobe represented by "er" or "ir."
A diphthong is a gliding vowel. Here is a list of diphthongs:
- oi as in "boil"
- oy as in "toy"
- aw as in "paw"
- au as in "Paul"
- ow as in "cow" (note that "ow" can also represent the long o sound, as in "glow")
- ou as in "loud"
A diphthong begins as one sound and glides to another. (Say aloud one of the diphthongs and you'll see what we mean.)
It often makes sense to teach diphthongs in pairs - oi and oy, aw and au, ow and ou. This allows students to see that there are two different spellings for the diphthong sounds, and they can compare and contrast words with each spelling pattern.
In some phonics programs, likeFrom Sounds to Spelling, the "oo" spelling pattern is taught along with diphthongs.
It often makes sense to do this, but it's helpful to know that technically "oo" is not a diphthong - it's a vowel digraph.
The letters "oo" can represent two sounds, as in the words:
- moon
- book
It's a tricky pattern and is typically saved until late 2nd grade or 3rd grade for instruction.
We hope that this article was helpful in understanding the order in which you should teach the vowels!
If you'd like a free phonics scope and sequence pdfthat includes sounds and patterns beyond just the vowels, check out this blog postto get one for free.
